The last time I saw John Karamanski he was shooting video footage of food presentations for Paul Poteet‘s Gotta Eat. What was that, about 2011 or 2012? Many of my social media friends will recognize his name immediately from Blog Indiana, Mixwest, et al.

A lot of water has obviously passed under the bridge since then, so it was a pleasant and unexpected surprise to get an invitation from John to visit his new Indy Smart House, the first of its kind in the city.

Indy Smart House is an intriguing property that weds smart design with smart technology to produce an open-concept house that greatly optimizes the use and utilization of its space. Here you have a dwelling with 3,000 square feet of living space on a lot no bigger than 40×90.

It’s readily apparent that a lot of thought and preparation went into the design and execution of this building project. And it’s just the first of about ten such houses to come in the Indianapolis area in the next year or so.

“The use of space is about: How do we use it? Who do we use it with? How long do we use it? What do we do next? How many purposes can a space define? What new possibilities are available?” said Karamanski.

“The Indy Smart House is purposefully designed to enhance and encourage the free flowing functions of your space.”

This inaugural smart house, located at 1964 North Park Avenue in Indianapolis, Indiana, is right across the street from MLK Park and the Peace Memorial on the corner of 20th Street and Park Avenue in a quiet, residential area that showcases the neighborhood’s revitalization efforts. Here’s a photo:

It features four bedrooms (the master has a 16-foot ceiling and an optional balcony outside the window!), three or possibly four full baths, a huge balcony deck accessible only from inside the house, a two-car garage with 12-foot ceilings and plenty of storage room, a terrace patio in between the kitchen and the garage, and can this be right–two laundry rooms?

It even has a full basement (that’s where you’ll find the 4th bedroom) with a huge space that just cries out for the ultimate man cave!

When it comes to technology, many areas of functionality can be controlled from at home and remotely from your phone: security cameras, door locks, climate control, lighting and power, audio, and more.

I can visualize a hot tub, BBQ grill, deck furniture, and any number of other outdoor accessories on that big balcony deck, and it has great views of the city park and the Indianapolis skyline. Want to invite your friends over for the evening? According to Karamanski, the balcony deck is strong enough to support up to 200 visitors!

This house is ideal for millennials with a growing family, in my opinion. Here’s a photo on today’s snowy Monday afternoon:

And one of the features that most impressed me was the unique design of a stair-step entrance into the 4th bedroom through the window (!). The window can be opened to gain carry-in access to bring large items into the house.

This particular house has already been sold and will be turned over to its occupants at the end of March. But you can still take an Open House tour of this property for the next two Sundays, March 19 and 26, 2017, from 1 to 4 pm each Sunday. See http://aroundindy.com/openhouses.php.

A duplicate of this smart house is also planned for the vacant lot directly across the street on the northwest corner of 20th and Park, and other locations are forthcoming.

All-in-all, I was impressed. And just to be clear, there is no conflict of interest here. John and I are social media friends and he wanted to show me his project. Simple as that. No money changed hands, I didn’t receive any goods or services in exchange for this blog post, and no quid pro quo exists. He didn’t buy me lunch or pay for my gas or anything. I simply went and took a tour of the house, same as you can.

If you’re in the market for a new home, I recommend a visit to this property this Sunday or next. I think you’ll be as impressed as I am. It’s a very cool concept!